Native application collaboration

ABSTRACT

A secondary device receives presence information for a content item that is synchronized by a content management system with the secondary device and with a primary device. If a user of the primary device is present as indicated by the presence information, a collaboration element is displayed on the secondary device. Responsive to a user input at the collaboration element, a collaboration request is sent to the primary device, and collaboration information enabling collaborative interaction with an instance of the content item on the primary device is received.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/810,006, filed Nov. 11, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,235,022, whichapplication is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/635,192,filed Mar. 2, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,846,528, all of which isincorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates generally to sharing information among devices,and particularly to sharing display and editing control of a document ina native application.

Content management systems permit devices to synchronize content itemswith the content management system and other devices. A device stores alocal copy of content items. When content items are added, deleted, andedited on a device, these modifications are sent to the contentmanagement system for storage and synchronization with other devices. Tointeract with a content item, users typically execute a nativeapplication on the device to view and modify the content item.Modifications to a content item may be synchronized with the contentmanagement system separately from the execution of the nativeapplication. Accordingly, multiple devices may separately view and edita particular content item. When users each modify the same content item,versioning problems may arise from conflicting edits. In part, theseconflicts arise because users are not aware that other users aremodifying the contact item in parallel. In some content managementsystem implementations, users of devices sharing content items can bemade aware of each other's interactions with shared items on theirrespective devices. However, a user still cannot see the changes made byother users until a content item is reloaded. This leads toinneficiencies when multiple users want to edit a content item at thesame time.

SUMMARY

Described embodiments enable a set of users of devices sharing contentitems via a content management system to simultaneously view and modifya single instance of the same content item within a native application.In various embodiments, graphical and textual information is provided tousers on their respective devices indicating that a shared content itemis being viewed or edited on one or more other devices. In addition, invarious embodiments users can collaboratively edit the shared contentitem from two or more devices.

A device in accordance with various embodiments stores a local copy of ashared content item, which is maintained and synchronized betweendevices by a content management system. The device includes a nativeapplication that can be used to access the content item, such as a wordprocessor, media viewer, media editor, and so forth. The nativeapplication displays information relating to the content item in a userinterface element, such as a window. The device also includes a clientapplication that monitors interactions with the content item andcommunicates information about those interactions to other devicessharing the content item either directly or via the content managementsystem. The client application generates interaction informationincluding data describing the user's interactions with a content item.The client application also facilitates collaboration between two ormore devices.

Interaction information includes interactions with the clientapplication and interactions with the native application. Interactioninformation may be determined from presence information, which includeprogrammatic events that occur in the native application. Presenceevents include opening a content item, editing a content item, saving acontent item, renaming a content item, moving a content item, anddeleting a content item. Presence events also include interactions withthe user interface element of the native application, such as the userinterface element gaining or losing focus. A focused user interfaceelement is the user interface element that receives user inputs at thedevice. For example, if a user interface element has focus, presenceinformation may be generated indicating that a user is “viewing” thecontent item via that user interface element. In one embodiment, thepresence events are gathered by the client application, which isseparate from the native application interacting with the content item.That is, in this embodiment the presence events are gathered by anotherapplication or process that is not integrated into the nativeapplication accessing the content item or the presence information.

Additional types of interaction information include notes, messages,notification requests, and collaboration requests related to the contentitem, which may be received by the client application. Messages mayinclude chat messages to other devices and messages indicating a user'sintent to interact with (e.g., to edit) a content item. Collaborationrequests may include requests by a user to collaborate with one or moreother users on a content item, and requests to share control of one ormore user input devices during a collaboration session. Interactioninformation also includes metadata modifications, such as versioningnotes, or requests for further information stored at the contentmanagement system about the content item, such as a request to viewversioning information or prior content item versions. The interactioninformation is exchanged by the devices to provide users withinformation regarding others' interactions with the content item.

The client application monitors events on the device to determine when auser is using a native application to interact with a synchronizedcontent item. In one method of monitoring events, the client applicationregisters with a process controlling a user interface element or theoperating system to receive events related to the user interfaceelement. The client application may monitor all such events, or onlycertain user interface elements associated with opening a synchronizedcontent item. When a presence event occurs, the client applicationreceives the presence event from the native application or from anoperating system. The client application identifies a user interfaceelement associated with the event and determines presence informationassociated with the event. The client application notifies the contentmanagement system that the content item is being or has been interactedwith, and sends the presence information to the content managementsystem. The presence information (or other interaction information) maybe sent directly to other devices.

The content management system receives the interaction information andmay respond to the interaction information or send the interactioninformation to other devices based on the type of interactioninformation. Interaction information relating to messages is sent toother devices synchronized to the content item. Presence information isstored as a presence record, which in one embodiment indicates a contentitem, device, process, user interface element, and a type of presence(e.g., that the content item is open, viewed, being edited, or beingcollaboratively edited). A user presence may be determined thatindicates a priority of interaction according to an ordering ofinteractions. In an example ordering, editing a content item has ahigher priority than viewing the content item, which has a higherpriority than opening the content item. The user presence describes auser's presence with respect to a content item and may be withoutreference to any particular device, process, or user interface element.The content management system may send the information to all devicesthat are synchronized with respect to the content item, or just todevices that are associated with an active presence record with respectto the content item. In one embodiment, devices register with thecontent management system to receive interaction information about acontent item, which may specify a particular interaction to triggernotification. When the interaction occurs, the triggering interactioninformation is sent to devices associated with the notification.

In one embodiment, when modifications to a content item are received atthe content management system, devices are instructed to perform actionsdepending on the interaction information associated with the clientdevice. For example, a device associated with a presence record isnotified that the content item is modified, and the content managementsystem instructs the device to display a prompt for the user to selectwhether to discard the content item edits or create a new version of thecontent item.

When presence information for other client devices is received thatrelates to a content item opened by a native application, the clientapplication displays the presence information in a presence indicatornear the user interface element of the native application. The presenceindicator may be an image of a user associated with the receivedpresence information, and may indicate the particular type of thepresence information, and the number of users exhibiting that type ofpresence. To display the presence indicator, the client devicedetermines the boundaries of the user interface element of the nativeapplication and displays the presence indicator at the boundary of theuser interface element or in another suitable location to not obscurethe user interface element. For example, the presence indicator may be athumbnail image of the user modifying a shared content item, displayedalongside a border of the window containing the content item. Thepresence indicator may also be displayed on a toolbar or other portionof a display. In addition to the presence information, other types ofinteraction information may also be presented. For example, chatmessages, a requested notification about a user's presence, versioninginformation, collaboration information, and other interactioninformation may be displayed.

The presence indicator may further contain controls for collaboration.For example, the presence indicator may include a user interface elementto initiate a collaboration session between two or more users.Collaboration may occur in association with a content item that issynchronized with two or more devices via the content management system.A primary device is chosen for collaboration. The primary deviceincludes an instance of the content item that will be collaborativelyedited by the collaborating users during a collaboration session.Devices involved in the collaboration session other than the primarydevice are secondary devices. During collaboration, each collaboratingdevice displays a window having a view of the content item instance onthe primary device. In various embodiments, users of secondary devicesare able to provide input to edit the content item on the primarydevice. At the conclusion of a collaboration session, the content itemis saved by the primary device and sent to the secondary devices. Thismay occur either directly or through the content management system.

When a new version of a content item is synchronized to the contentmanagement system, the interface may also display information informingthe user that the local copy is out of sync with the version on thecontent management system, and either suggesting or forcing a refresh ofthe user's local copy. In some embodiments the user may be offered anopportunity to save the out-of-sync version of the file as well, forexample using an alternative file name, prior to the file beingrefreshed to the current version.

Devices display presence information relating to other users'interactions with a content item in conjunction with a user interfacefor the application displaying the content item itself. This permitsusers to view, in essentially real or near real-time, the activity ofother users with respect to a content item. In addition, the presenceinformation is collected in one embodiment without relying onmodifications or add-ons to the native application displaying ormodifying the content item. In addition, presenting interfaces tocommunicate with the content management system alongside the applicationuser interface permits users to conveniently exchange chat informationand retrieve data about a content item while the content item is beingdisplayed.

In various embodiments, the client application additionally displayspresence information in a content item browser (“browser”) for viewing afolder or other collection of content items. The collection of contentitems may include content items that may be interacted with by a nativeapplication, and may include collections within the collection. Thus,each collection may itself be a collection of content items, such thatthe collection of content items may be hierarchically arranged (e.g., afolder within a folder). Interaction information for a particularcontent item is associated with each collection of content items thatcontain the content item.

For clarity of description, when the browser displays a collection thatincludes a collection (i.e., the folder within a folder), the includedcollection is termed an organizational element. That is, when thebrowser displays a collection, the displayed content items that arecollections are termed organizational elements.

When a user views a collection of content items in the browser, thebrowser displays a status indicator reflecting interaction informationrelated to the content items. Each organizational element displayed inthe browser also displays an indicator reflecting interactioninformation of content items, such as further organizational elements,within that organizational elements. For example, a browser may displaya collection of two content items and one organizational element (e.g. afolder containing three content items). A status indicator is displayedwith each of the two content items to indicate interaction informationrelating to the content items, and a status indicator is displayed withthe organizational element indicating interactions with its contentitems (e.g., the three content items within the folder). To obtainfurther information, a user may select or place a cursor over a contentitem or organizational element. Alternatively, the user may control thebrowser to display the collection of content items described by anorganizational element. To generate the display of the browser, theclient application filters the interaction information to displayinteraction information relevant to the organization of content itemsbeing displayed to the user. This permits a user to view, within acontent item browser, interaction information for the content itemsassociated with the organization of content items, and to view, at aglance, interactions of other users with respect to variousorganizational elements and content items.

Interaction information and other metadata relating to the collectionmay also be displayed to the viewing user in an activity feed. Theinteraction information and other metadata may be associated with ashared folder that is synchronized with the client and includes thedisplayed collection. The activity feed displays interaction informationand other information associated with the collection of content itemspresently displayed in the browser. The activity feed may displaycurrently active users (e.g., those with active presence information,such as “viewing”), along with actions performed by those users andnotifications related to the collection of content items. These actionsand notifications may include changes in presence information, or othernotifications relating to interaction information, such as theinteraction information described above. In particular, this may includeinteraction information entered by a user using an interface elementdisplayed with a native application, such as a chat message or a requestto be notified. In addition to the interaction information, the activityfeed may also display information reflecting changes to content items,the collection, or (if applicable) the shared folder. For example, thechanges to the shared folder may be a new user added to the sharedfolder or a change to a content item may be a new version of a contentitem becoming available. The user may also interact with the browser tofilter for particular users (e.g., to identify a content item, includingan organization element, where a user is associated with presenceinformation), to identify when a user last interacted with a contentitem, or to add interaction information (e.g., a chat message) relatingto the organizing element itself.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an environment for content itemsynchronization including communication of interaction information anduser collaboration

FIG. 2 shows various modules and components of a device in accordancewith one embodiment.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show a user interface element focus change on a desktopdisplay of a device.

FIG. 4 shows an example process for determining presence informationassociated with a content item according to one embodiment.

FIGS. 5A-5D show example user interfaces displaying interactioninformation.

FIGS. 6A-6F show example user interfaces for users in a collaborationsession.

FIG. 7 shows an example process for initiating a user collaborationsession according to one embodiment.

FIGS. 8A and 8B show example processes for ending collaboration.

FIG. 9 shows components of a content management system, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 10 shows an ordering of user presence according to one embodiment.

FIG. 11 shows a presence record in a presence table relating to acontent item according to one embodiment.

FIG. 12 shows a process of modifying a presence record and updatingdevices of user presence according to an embodiment.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart for a process that uses presence informationto synchronize modifications to a content item.

FIG. 14 shows a folder-level display of interaction informationaccording to one embodiment.

The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention forpurposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readilyrecognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments ofthe structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed withoutdeparting from the principles of the invention described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an environment for content itemsynchronization including communication of interaction information anduser collaboration. FIG. 1 includes devices 100A, 100B, 100C (referredto generally as device 100), content management system 110, and network120. Three devices are shown only for purpose of illustration; inpractice any number of devices may be present in the environment.Similarly, other modules or components described and illustratedthroughout may include single or multiple instances as appropriate tothe needs of the implementer and without loss of generality.

Device 100 may be any suitable computing device for locally storing andviewing content items and synchronizing the content items with contentmanagement system 110. Examples of devices include desktop and laptopcomputers, hand-held mobile devices, tablet computers, and othercomputing devices. The operation of device 100 in various embodiments isfurther described below.

Each device 100 communicates with content management system 110 throughnetwork 120. Network 120 is any suitable network and may include localnetworks, corporate networks, global networks, and any combination ofthese. In typical configurations, devices 100 communicate via a wired orwireless communication network to a local network service provider, andcommunicate with content management system 110 through the Internet. Incertain configurations, devices 100A, 100B, and 100C communicatedirectly with one another without network 120 as indicated in FIG. 1 bydashed lines. For example, devices 100 may communicate via a wired orwireless connection, such as wirelessly via a Bluetooth connection or awired connection via a Universal Serial Bus (USB).

Content management system 110 provides content sharing andsynchronization services for users of devices 100. These services allowusers to share content with users of other devices 100. In addition tocontent sharing, content management system 110 updates shared contentresponsive to changes and enables synchronized changes to content itemsacross multiple devices 100. A user may synchronize content acrossmultiple devices 100 owned by the user and associated with the user'saccount, and the user may share content that is synchronized withdevices associated with other users' accounts. Content stored by contentmanagement system 110 can include any type of data, such as digitaldata, documents, media (e.g., images, photos, videos, audio, streamingcontent), data files and databases, source and object code, recordings,and any other type of data or file, collectively referred to here as“content items.” Content items stored by content management system 110may also be used to organize other content items, such as folders,tables, collections, albums, playlists, or in other database structures(e.g., object oriented, key/value etc.). In practice, various devices100 may be synchronizing different groups of content items, based onuser associations, permissions, content sharing permissions, and soforth. The operation of content management system 110 in variousembodiments is further described below.

FIG. 2 shows various modules and components of device 100 in accordancewith one embodiment. Device 100 includes display 220 for providinginformation to the user, and in certain client devices 100 includes atouchscreen. Device 100 also includes network interface 225 forcommunicating with content management system 110 via network 120. Device100 also includes a user input module 260, which receives user inputsfrom various user input devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, atrackpad, or other device. Other conventional components of a clientdevice 100 that are not material are not shown, for example one or morecomputer processors, local fixed memory (RAM and ROM), as well asoptionally removable memory (e.g., SD-card), power sources, andaudio-video outputs.

Software modules include operating system 245 and one or more nativeapplications 255. Native applications 255 vary based on the clientdevice, and may include various applications for creating, viewing,consuming, and modifying content stored on content management system110, such as word processors, spreadsheets, database management systems,code editors, image and video editors, e-book readers, audio and videoplayers, and the like. Operating system 245 on each device provides alocal file management system and executes the various software modulessuch as content management system client application 200 and nativeapplication 255. A contact directory 240 stores information about theuser's contacts, such as name, picture, telephone numbers, company,email addresses, physical address, website URLs, and the like. Furtheroperation of native applications 255, operating system 245, and contentmanagement system client application 200 are described below.

In certain embodiments, device 100 includes additional components suchas camera 230 and location module 235. Camera 230 may be used to captureimages or video for upload to the online content management system 110.Location module 235 determines the location of device 100, using forexample a global positioning satellite signal, cellular towertriangulation, or other methods. Location module 235 may be used byclient application 200 to obtain location data and add the location datato metadata about a content item, such as an image captured by camera230.

Client device 100 accesses content management system 110 in a variety ofways. Client application 200 can be a dedicated application or modulethat provides access to the services of content management system 110,providing both user access to shared files through a user interface, aswell as programmatic access for other applications. Client device 100may also access content management system 110 through web browser 250.As an alternative, client application 200 may integrate access tocontent management system 110 with the local file management systemprovided by operating system 245. When access to content managementsystem 110 is integrated in the local file management system, a fileorganization scheme maintained at content management system 110 isrepresented as a local file structure by operating system 245 inconjunction with client application 200. Client application 200 may takevarious forms, such as a stand-alone application, an applicationplug-in, or a browser extension. Client application 200 includes userinterface module 202, interaction management module 204, content accessmodule 206, local content data store 208, monitored presence data store210, and collaboration module 207.

In addition to handling other device tasks, operating system 245displays information from applications executing on device 100 to a uservia display 220, which may include one or more user interface elements.Such user interface elements may vary based on the particular device andconfiguration. User interface elements include windows on a desktopinterface as well as interface elements on a mobile device. Examples ofoperating systems that employ user interface elements such as windowsare Microsoft Windows 8 by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., andOS X by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. In addition, operating system245 manages control of multiple native applications 255, which may beexecuting simultaneously. The user interface elements may be layered,such that one layer overlaps another layer. In some operating systemsand configurations, only a single user interface element is displayed ata given time. One user interface element is typically the active userinterface element, meaning that it is the user interface element towhich the operating system 245 routes user inputs, such as keyboardentry, cursor movement, touch sensors, touch gestures, and so forth. Asunderstood by those of skill in the art, a window or other userinterface element that is active at a particular time is often said tohave focus. Users may select another user interface element to changethe focus from one user interface element to another, and in someinstances operating system 245 may change the focus without user input.

Typically, the user interface elements, e.g., windows, associated withnative applications 255 are managed by operating system 245, whichmaintains an association between process identifiers of executing nativeapplications 255 and user interface element identifiers of the userinterface elements. For example, a particular application may beassociated with process id “2587”, which may be managing multiple userinterface elements, with user interface element identifiers 4, 8, and10. Each user interface element identifier may be separately associatedwith a particular content item opened by that native application 255,and multiple user interface element identifiers and process identifiersmay be associated with the same content item.

Operating system 245 also handles and recognizes various events. Suchevents include a request from native applications 255 to close or open acontent item, a request from native applications 255 to close a windowor other user interface element, and requests to change a user interfaceelement focus, among many others. As described below, these events maybe used by interaction management module 204 to recognize a change inpresence related to a content item.

Client application 200 identifies interactions that take place withrespect to a content item, such as when a user opens, closes or editsthe content item on the device. These interactions are identified byclient application 200 to generate interaction information describingthe interaction with the content item. Interaction information includesinteractions with client application 200 and interactions with nativeapplication 255. Interaction information determined from actions ofnative application 255 is termed presence information. An application,such as client application 200 that determines interaction informationand presence information is termed a presence application. Additionaltypes of interaction information (in addition to presence information)include notes, messages, and notification requests related to thecontent item, which may be received by client application 200. Messagesmay include chat messages to other devices, messages indicating a user'sintent to interact with (e.g., to edit) a content item, and messagesindicating a user's intent to begin a collaboration session.Notification requests may include a request to be notified when anotheruser's interaction information changes. Interaction information alsoincludes metadata modifications, such as versioning notes, or requestsfor further information stored at content management system 110 aboutthe content item, such as a request to view versioning information orprior content item versions. Further examples of interaction informationis described below.

This interaction information is transmitted to other devices 100 thatare synchronized with respect to the content item. The indication ofintent may for example alert a second user of the content item onanother device that the first user would like to edit the content item,or initiatite a collaborative editing session. Client application 200identifies when users are using a native application 255 to interactwith a content item, and also receives chat or intent information from auser. In various embodiments, device 100 identifies a user's presence ina content item (i.e. that the user has the content item open or isediting the content item) through interaction with operating system 245as described further below.

Device 100 receives content items from content management system 110 andpermits users to view, modify, and interact with the content items usingvarious native applications 255 stored on the device 100. For example,device 100 may include a photo editing application that manipulatesimage content items, a word processing application that permitsmodification of text content items, or a computer-aided design (CAD)application that permits modification of drawing content items. Asdescribed further below, interaction information is determined by device100 via user interactions applications and the interaction informationis sent to other devices 100. In addition, when device 100 receivesinteraction information relating to other devices 100, the device 100displays that interaction information.

In one embodiment, an application detecting interaction informationrelating to content items is distinct from the applications viewing ormanipulating the content items. For example, the client applicationdetecting interaction information is distinct from a photo editingapplication manipulating or displaying the image content items. Invarious embodiments, the application detecting interaction informationis also responsible for synchronizing the content items with contentmanagement system 110. Since the application detecting presenceinformation may be distinct from the applications about which presenceis detected, presence may be monitored for many applications and contentitems at once and without requiring integration of the presencemonitoring into each type of content item viewer. That is, no specialpresence monitoring add-on or application modification is required, forexample, for each of a photo editing application, a word processingapplication, and a playlist editing application.

In one embodiment, devices that are synchronized with respect to acontent item may collaboratively edit the content item. Collaboratingusers may simultaneously view a content item that is open for viewing orediting in native applications. In an alternative embodiment, two ormore collaborating users may additionally be able to edit a content itemduring collaboration. A collaborating user is able to make changes to acontent item that are visible to other collaborating users and viewchanges made to the content item by other collaborating users, all inreal time. In some embodiments, user collaboration is managed bycollaboration module 207. In other embodiments, collaboration is managedby content management system 110.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show an example of a user interface element focus changeon desktop 300 shown on display 220 of device 100. In FIG. 3A, windows310A, 310B, and 310C are displayed on desktop 300 and viewable by theuser. In this embodiment, desktop 300 is a general container or framemaintained by operating system 245 that encloses user interface elementson display 220. In FIGS. 3A and 3B, the user interface elements arewindows 310 in a desktop computing environment. In other configurations,such as a mobile device, or other display with limited area, only asingle user interface element might be displayed at a time. As shown byFIG. 3A, window 310A is the active window, shown as the front window,partially obscuring windows 310B and 310C. In FIG. 3B, focus changed towindow 310B, which is now the front window and the active window. Thefocus may change due to user interaction with window 310B, or due to aprocess requesting that its window become the active window. In certainoperating systems and configurations, a user interface element has focus(e.g., is receiving user input) without being the front user interfaceelement.

Referring again to FIG. 2, to open a content item, native application255 requests the content item from operating system 245 and receives ahandle to the content item from operating system 245 for the contentitem. In some cases, application 245 does not maintain the handle, andmay load the content item data into memory and subsequently close thecontent item handle even if native application 255 continues to use datafrom the content item or if the user enters edits to the content item.Accordingly, open content item handles are often not a reliable way todetermine whether an application is interacting with a particularcontent item. As such, in certain embodiments, further behaviorsexhibited by the native applications 255 are used to determine whetheran application is editing a content item.

Native applications 255 also perform various behaviors when a usermodifies a content item, and prior to the user saving the content item.These behaviors vary based on the application and operating system 245.For example, some native applications 255 create a temporary contentitem with a filename that differs from the open content item, forexample leading the temporary content item's filename with a tilde orother recognizable mark. In other examples, the native applications 255changes the title of a user interface element associated with thecontent item, which may or may not be directly viewable by a user. Instill further examples, native application 255 sets a flag indicatingthe content item has been modified. Native application 255 may alsoprovide information regarding content item modification in response to arequest from another application or the operating system. For examplethe Accessibility API in the OS X operating system as described aboveprovides information regarding content items associated with a userinterface element. Since an open content item handle may not reliablydetermine whether a content item is being edited by a native application255, these behaviors are used by presence management module 204 todetermine presence relating to editing or modifying a content item asdescribed further below.

Native applications 255 may typically be executed on device 100independently from one another, and may permit communication between theapplications and other applications or processes executing on device100. Native applications 255 typically provide information to processesusing application programming interfaces (APIs), which permitapplications to request information from the executing process. Forexample, native applications 255 may present an API permitting a requestfor user interface elements controlled by the application, or toindicate the title of a user interface element, or to request a path ina file system associated with a content item opened by the nativeapplication 255. Similarly, operating system 245 may provide similarAPIs to requesting processes, such as requesting information about aprocess that controls a particular user interface element.

Client application 200 manages access to content management system 110.Client application 200 includes user interface module 202 that generatesan interface to the content accessed by client application 200, asvariously illustrated herein, and is one means for performing thisfunction. The generated interface is provided to the user by display220. Client application 200 may store content accessed from a contentstorage at content management system 110 in local content data store208. While represented here as within client application 200, localcontent data store 208 may be stored with other data for client device100 in non-volatile storage. When local content data store 208 is storedthis way, the content is available to the user and other applications ormodules, such as native application 255, when client application 200 isnot in communication with content management system 110. Content accessmodule 206 manages updates to local content data store 208 and usessynchronization logic to communicate with content management system 110to synchronize content modified by client device 100 with contentmaintained on content management system 110. One example of suchsynchronization is provided in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/040,584, filed Sep. 27, 2013 and is hereby incorporated by referencein its entirety. Client application 200 may take various forms, such asa stand-alone application, an application plug-in, or a browserextension.

Content management system 110 may provide additional data forsynchronizing content items, such as information designating that acontent item has been deleted, or that the device 100 may be viewing orediting an outdated version of a content item.

Interaction management module 204 obtains and manages interactioninformation relating to a user's synchronized content items. Asdescribed above, the interaction management module 204 is typically adistinct module from the native applications 255 being monitored byinteraction management module 204 for presence information and executesas a separate process. Interaction management module 204 sendsinteraction information determined about a content item synchronized todevice 100 to content management system 110. Interaction managementmodule 204 also receives interaction information relating to other usersfrom content management system 110 for display to the user. As describedfurther below, in one embodiment the interaction management module 204displays presence information relating to other users by attaching apresence indicator to a user interface element associated with asynchronized content item. Further interaction information is alsodisplayed with the presence indicator.

To determine many types of interaction information, interactionmanagement module 204 receives interaction information through userinterface elements, as further described below. To determine presenceinformation related to a synchronized content item, interactionmanagement module 204 monitors user interface elements associated withnative applications 255. Interaction management module 204 can monitorall user interface elements, or alternatively monitor just certain userinterface elements after the user interface element is associated with acontent item. Monitored presence data store 210 includes informationmaintained by interaction management module 204 to indicate thatparticular user interface elements are monitored to determine actionsrelating to a synchronized content item.

While shown here as a part of client application 200, in variousimplementations the content access module 206 and interaction managementmodule 204 are separated into distinct modules for performing theirrespective functions. Similarly, various modules and data stores aredescribed separately throughout this disclosure for convenience and invarious implementations may be combined or further separated intoseparate components as desired.

FIG. 4 shows an example process for determining presence informationassociated with a content item according to one embodiment. This processis typically performed by interaction management module 204. Where theuser interface elements are monitored only after being associated with acontent item, interaction management module 204 uses events indicatingthat a content item is being opened by an application or user interfaceelement to determine whether to monitor a user interface element. Thisis one example of an event that may associate a content item with a userinterface element to initiate monitoring of the user interface element,termed a monitoring event. In other embodiments, a selection of userinterface elements to monitor is determined in another way, or all userinterface elements are monitored, in which case the interactionmanagement module 204 may not use monitoring events.

If enabled by operating system 245, the interaction management module204 may register with operating system 245 to receive monitoring eventsfor specific applications. In these embodiments, operating system 245notifies interaction management module 204 when a request to open acontent item is received by operating system 245. In this embodiment,interaction management module 204 receives a monitoring event 400 thatindicates a window or other user interface element is interacting with acontent item, which may be a synchronized content item (i.e., theprocess is interacting with the content item in a particular userinterface element). The monitoring event designates at least a userinterface element that triggered the monitoring event. In otherembodiments, interaction management module 204 monitors eventsassociated with user interface elements from time-to-time (e.g., fiveminute intervals) and queries whether the user interface elements areassociated with any open content items. According to operating system245 and native application 255 configuration, this query may be directedto operating system 245 or native application 255. When a user interfaceelement is associated with a newly opened content item, that newlyopened content item is treated as a monitoring event to determinewhether the newly opened content item is a content item synchronizedwith content management system 110 and that presence information shouldbe determined for the newly opened content item.

When the monitoring event is received, interaction management module 204determines 410 which process is responsible for the user interfaceelement associated with the monitoring event. Interaction managementmodule 204 typically determines the process by requesting the process IDassociated with the user interface element from operating system 245. Insome embodiments, the interaction management module 204 identifies aprocess by requesting an identification of the process from the userinterface element itself.

To confirm that the process and user interface element are correctlyassociated with one another and that the user interface element is stillactive, interaction management module 204 may also request from theprocess the identity of the currently active user interface element. Theinteraction management module 204 confirms that the currently activeuser interface element received from the process matches the userinterface element associated with the monitoring event.

Using the process identifier, interaction management module 204 requests420 any open content item from the process to obtain an associateddirectory path for the content item. The interaction management module204 may designate the user interface element associated with themonitoring event with the request for the open content item's path. Theinteraction management module 204 requests the open item from theprocess or operating system using an interface available interface tothe process or operating system. As one example, in the OS X operatingsystem, the accessibility API may be used to access information relatingto a content item and content item path for a user interface element, asknown in the art. Using the content item path provided by the process,the interaction management module 204 determines whether the openedcontent item path corresponds to any synchronized content items. If so,interaction management module 204 determines that the content itemaccessed by the process is a content item synchronized to contentmanagement system 110 and associates that process and user interfaceelement with the content item. In other embodiments, other methods maybe used to determine whether a content item accessed by the process is asynchronized content item.

If the content item is synchronized 430 to content management system110, interaction management module 204 stores information relating tothe content item, process, and user interface element, to monitor 440the user interface element for events. When the content item associatedwith the monitoring event is not synchronized, the process ends and thecontent item is not monitored. This monitoring information is stored inmonitored presence data store 210. To monitor and subsequently receivepresence events related to the user interface element, interactionmanagement module 204 registers to receive events associated with theuser interface element. The registration process by the interactionmanagement module 204 varies according to the configuration of device100. Typically the interaction management module 204 registers a requestto receive presence events from operating system 245 or from theapplicable process or user interface element. While the monitoringevents determined whether a user interface element or processinteracting with a synchronized content item, presence events are eventsthat may indicate a change in state of a user's presence relating to theuser interface element or process associated with a content item.Example presence events include a change in focus of a user interfaceelement, closing a user interface element, closing a content item,opening a content item, and so forth based on the types of presencerecognized by the interaction management module 204. In variousconfigurations, the presence events used by interaction managementmodule 204 depend on the events operating system 245 and nativeapplication 255 make available for receipt by interaction managementmodule 204.

The presence events are used to determine presence informationassociated with the content item to which the presence event relates.For example, a presence event indicating that a user interface elementthat is associated with a content item has the focus will indicate thatthe user is viewing the content item, and hence the presence informationfor that content item indicates that state. Likewise, a presence eventindicating that a user interface element unrelated to a content item hasgained focus indicates that the content item associated with apreviously focused user interface element has lost focus, and thusindicates that user is no longer be viewing the content item. Thus,presence information provides a level of semantic interpretation of theunderlying presence event itself.

In addition to receiving presence events that the interaction managementmodule 204 registered for, presence events may also be initiated byinteraction management module 204 to confirm that presence informationhas not changed for a monitored user interface element. These presenceevents may be initiated if a threshold amount of time passed since thelast presence event for a particular user interface element or process,or at particular intervals, e.g., every five minutes.

In addition to registering for events, interaction management module 204may receive interaction events in other ways. In one embodiment, usersmay expressly indicate interaction information through a user interfaceelement. The user interface element can be configured to allow the userto indicate, for example, that a user intends to revise a content item,to indicate that intent to other users who are editing or viewing thecontent item, for example by selection of a menu item or icon thatrepresents the particular intent. The user interface element can also beconfigured to allow a user to indicate other intentions of the user,such as a user's intention to no longer view a content item, or toexpressly indicate that a user is not or will not be present for acontent item. Other users may use such “not present” intention to knowthat the content item is free for editing. User input interaction eventsmay also include messages or chat features to be disseminated to otherusers associated with the content item, for example, to transmit amessage to other users currently viewing the content item on otherdevices.

When a presence event is received 450, interaction management module 204determines whether any presence information has changed since the lastpresence event related to a monitored user interface element. Foruser-initiated interaction information, the interaction information maybe the information provided by the user, for example the user'sselection of a user interface element indicating that the user intendsto modify a content item, or a user's chat message. For presence events,the interaction management module 204 queries the monitored process todetermine the status of the monitored user interface element. Inparticular, the interaction management module 204 queries the process todetermine if the monitored user interface element is the active userinterface element. When the monitored user interface element is theactive user interface element, the content item is being viewed by theuser.

In some embodiments, in addition to detecting user presence with respectto a content item, interaction management module 204 also determineswhether the content item is being or has been modified by the user. Thisfurther aspect enables presence information to be reported moregranularly, for example with an indication that a user has a presencewith respect to the content item as an editor rather than as a viewer.As the particular actions performed by applications when a content itemis being modified may vary as described above, detecting one of theseactions by interaction management module 204 indicates that the processhas edited the content item. For example, according to the type ofactions expected by the process when the content item is edited,interaction management module 204 may query the process to determine ifthe process indicates the content item has been flagged as modified, ifthe title information of the user interface element has changed, if atemporary file has been saved or cached, or any other data that suggeststhe content item has been modified. Interaction management module 204may also query the operating system to determine if a content item hasbeen saved that matches a temporary content item format, for example acontent item with a filename similar to the content item, but with atilde or other specialized variation of the filename. Such modificationsindicate that the presence information associated with the content itemshould reflect that the user is editing the content item.

After determining 460 the presence information, any new presenceinformation for a user interface element may be stored as monitoredpresence data store 250. This presence information in one embodiment isstored on a user interface element-by-user interface element basis, suchthat multiple user interface elements by one process may be associatedwith the same content item, and have presence information individuallymanaged. In one embodiment, presence information may change based on thecurrent presence status. For example, when the presence information fora content item reflects that the content item is being edited, in oneembodiment the presence for the content item in a user interface elementis not changed when a user changes focus to another user interfaceelement. Instead, the edited status is maintained with respect to thatuser interface element until a presence event indicates the userinterface element is closed. In another embodiment, since editing hasthe potential to introduce modifications to the content item, in oneembodiment the presence information for an edited document is notchanged until the interaction management module 204 receives anotification that modifications to the content item are either committedor the modifications are discarded.

A content item with presence information indicating it is being viewedmay have that status change when the user interface element loses focus,or within a threshold period of time of losing focus. This may be thecase even if the user interface element associated with the content itemis still open. In one embodiment, “viewed” presence informationindicates whether a content item is associated with an active userinterface element. In one embodiment, “viewed” presence information isretained until the user interface element is not active (or has lostfocus) for longer than a threshold amount of time. In one embodiment,the content item is considered “viewed” while the content item is openby an application.

When there is a change to the interaction information, interactionmanagement module 204 sends the interaction information to contentmanagement system 110. In one embodiment, the sent presence informationincludes an identifier of the content item, the process id, the userinterface element id, and the presence status.

FIGS. 5A-5D show example user interfaces displaying interactioninformation. Various user interface elements are similar to thosedepicted in FIGS. 3A and 3B. In FIG. 5A, the example user interfacedisplays presence information. To display presence information,interaction management module 204 provides presence indicator(s) 500along a boundary or border of the window associated with the contentitem. In this example, interaction management module 204 receivespresence information indicating that user Jeff is editing content item 2and four users are viewing content item 2. Interaction management module204 displays presence indicator 500A to indicate that Jeff is editingthe document and presence indicator 500B indicating users are viewingthe document. In one embodiment, presence indicator 500 displays an iconor picture of a user associated with the presence indicator. The icon orpicture may be obtained by interaction management module 204 fromcontact directory 240, or may be received from content management system110. The individual user displayed by the presence indicator may varydepending on the embodiment, and may display, for example, the firstuser having a particular presence (e.g., the first viewer) or the userwho most recently opened the content item.

Presence indicator 500 is displayed along with the window associatedwith the content item, and in one embodiment interaction managementmodule 204 tracks the location of the window and displays presenceindicator 500 adjacent to or near the window, for example alongside aborder or boundary of the window. A supplemental presence indicator 510may appear when a user hovers over presence indicator 500 to providefurther information or interfaces for the user. In the example shown inFIG. 5A, supplemental presence indicator 510 describes presenceindicator 500A, specifically that Jeff is associated with a presence ofediting content item 2. Supplemental presence indicator 510 may alsoappear when a presence changes, to indicate a new user is viewing orediting the document, for example.

The presence indicator 500 and supplemental presence indicator 510 maybe located on any convenient area of display 220. In one embodiment thepresence indicator is displayed proximal the associated user interfaceelement of the content item so as to visually indicate to the user therelationship between the presence indicator and the specific contentitem. In addition, the display of the presence indicator along aboundary or border of the window increases the likelihood that the userwill notice the presence indicator. In one embodiment, the presenceindicators 500 are displayed on or alongside a vertical edge of thewindow containing the content item (e.g., right edge as shown FIG. 5A).

Alternatively, the presence indicator may be shown in a separate area ofthe display, such as a taskbar, or tray icon or may be a separate userinterface element that does not interact with the user interface elementof the content item. Though shown here as a single presence indicator500 for each type of presence (editing or viewing), any number ofpresence indicators 500 may be shown related to the content item. Forexample, a circular indicator may include a count of users viewing thecontent item and another circular indicator may include a count of usersediting the content item. Alternatively, where multiple presenceindicators 500 are to be displayed, they may be ordered from top tobottom, where the ordering can be most recent to least recent, orhighest priority to lowest priority, or a combination thereof (e.g.,ordered by priority, and for presence indicators of the same priority,ordered by recency). The presence indicator, as shown, may also indicatean icon or picture associated with the other user. The indicators mayalso be color-coded to indicate the risk that a user will affect editsby other users. For example, the presence indicator may be red (or thepresence indicator may turn red) when another user is editing,indicating to the user to coordinate any desired modifications with thatuser's changes. Likewise, the editing indicator may be yellow when otherusers are viewing the content item, and green when the current user isthe only user viewing the content item.

FIG. 5B shows a user interface through which a user may enterinteraction information to the interaction management module 204. Thisinterface includes presence indicators 500, in addition to further userinterface elements. This interface may be presented in lieu of theexample of FIG. 5A, or may be presented as a supplemental presenceindicator providing additional data regarding the content item.

The user interface of FIG. 5B provides notification element 520,permitting a user to indicate the user's desire to be notified when apresence change occurs related to another user. Upon selectingnotification element 520, the user may further select specificnotification options, for example to be notified when a particularuser's presence changes (e.g., Jeff is no longer editing), that allusers have stopped a particular presence (e.g., no one is editing), orthat no users have an active presence (e.g., that no one else isaccessing content item 2). The user's notification preference is sent tocontent management system 110 or the applicable users to requestnotification when the requested presence changes.

The interface also provides collaboration element 570, permitting a userto initiate a collaboration session with other users who have thecontent item open. Upon selecting collaboration element 570, the usermay further select specific collaboration options. For example, choosingwhich users to include in a collaboration session and choosing whetherto collaborate with editing control.

This interface also provides a chat interface for users to communicatewith other users present in the content item. The chat interface permitsusers to enter and receive messages to other users. Presence changes mayalso be indicated in the chat window, for example that Amanda is nowviewing the content item. The chat window may permit users tospecifically discuss information relating to that content item, such aswhen a user expects to finish editing the item. These chat messages arereceived by interaction management module 204 as interaction informationand sent to other clients synchronized to the content item. This permitsusers to chat directly about a content item, even if the nativeapplication provides no chat functionality.

Notes user interface 540 permits a user to retrieve and enter notesstored in association with the content item. When notes interface 540 isselected, interaction management module 204 requests any notes or otherpersistent information from content management system 110 relating tothe content item and displays any such notes to the user along with aninterface for entering additional notes to be sent to other synchronizeddevices and content management system 110. Like the chat window, thispermits additional notes to be entered for a content item andapplication providing the user interface which may not natively providefor any note functionality. The notes element 540 may also be used whenno other users are present within the content item and may be used toleave messages for other users about a content item.

Content data element 550 permits a user to request additional data aboutthe content item, such as any related metadata, user permissions, and soforth. This permits a user to request details of the content item fromthe content management system directly from an interface near the userinterface element associated with the content item.

Similarly, versions element 560 indicates a request for versioninformation. Interaction management module 204 transmits the request forversion information to content management system 110 as interactioninformation related to the content item. In response, content managementsystem 110 identifies relevant version information for the content item.In one embodiment, a prior version is compared side-by-side with theversion of the content item displayed in the user interface element. Inanother embodiment, the prior version is compared in-line in the userinterface element.

FIG. 5C shows a user interface in which a user is notified about achange in presence related to another content item. In this case, a userhad previously selected to be notified when user Jeff finished editingcontent item 2, using notification element 520. After requestingnotification, the user proceeded to close window 310B relating tocontent item 2, and is presently viewing content item 1. In thisembodiment, presence indicator 500E indicates that the user is the onlyuser with presence relating to this content item. This may be espresslyindicated (“No one else is viewing this file”) as shown, or may beprovided if a user interacts with presence indicator 500E. Interactionmanagement module 204 receives a notification that Jeff has finishedediting content item 2. The notification 590 is displayed to the user.This notification is provided though the user may be interacting withanother application or another content item than the content item towhich the notification relates.

FIG. 5D shows a user interface in which a user receives a notificationthat a content item has been modified. In this example, a new version ofcontent item 2 viewed by the user has been saved by another user, Jeff.Interaction management module 204 receives a message from contentmanagement system 110 indicating that content item 2 has been modifiedand a new version is available. Typically, the user's edits may be lostif the user attempted to synchronize the user's edits to contentmanagement system 110 because the user's edits would be out of date withthe version maintained by content management system 110. Using thepresence information indicating the user is editing the content item,the user can be provided choices to assist in incorporating any editsfrom Jeff into the user's edits. A version notification 580 is presentedto the user, along with choices to make in response to the new version.In this example, the user may elect to load the new version, discard theuser's edits, or save the user's edits as a new file. The particularchoices available to a user may be provided by content management system110 based on content management system 110's record of the device'spresence 100, as further described below. In another embodiment,interaction management module 204 determines options for display to theuser.

In embodiments where interaction management module 204 is a separateapplication from the native application 255 of window 310B, presenceindicators 500 are provided by interaction management module 204. Thus,interaction management module 204 monitors presence informationassociated with the application, and displays presence informationrelating to other users for a content item associated with theapplication. When other windows are activated, the same interactionmanagement module 204 displays presence information relating to theactivated window.

To display the presence indicator(s), interaction management module 204receives the presence information for other devices, typically from thecontent management system 110. Interaction management module 204determines that a synchronized content item is in use by a window orprocess, and that the window is being displayed to the user. Forexample, interaction management module 204 may receive a presence eventfrom the window or process being monitored as described above. When thepresence event indicates that the window has the focus, interactionmanagement module 204 adds the presence indicator to the display.Interaction management module 204 in one embodiment also tracks movementof the window in the desktop and moves the presence indicators tomaintain the location of the presence indicators relative to the window.

In one embodiment, to add the presence indicator to the display,interaction management module 204 determines the location of the focusedwindow and its boundaries, and adds the presence indicator adjacent tothe window boundary. When interaction management module 204 identifiesthat the focused window has changed, the presence indicator for thatcontent item may also be removed until that window is focused again.

Referring again to FIG. 5B, in one embodiment, collaboration element 570is displayed in association with a content item that is open for viewingor editing in native applications on at least two devices. A viewing orediting user may initiate collaboration via collaboration element 570.During collaboration one device assumes the role of primary device, andother device(s) are secondary devices. The primary device is the devicehaving the instance of the content item in which collaboration occurs.Secondary devices therefore provide viewing and editing functionalitywith respect to the instance of the content item located on the primarydevice. There may be multiple secondary devices for a givencollaboration session, but only one primary device.

Prior to collaboration, an instance of the content item may be open forviewing or editing on what will become the secondary device. In oneembodiment, collaboration element 570 prompts one of the users, e.g.,the requesting user, to choose which device will be the primary devicefor the collaboration session. In another embodiment, the primary deviceis chosen by collaboration module 207. For example, if one user has thecontent item open for editing and another has the item open for viewing,collaboration module 207 designates the device on which the item isbeing edited as primary.

FIGS. 6A-6F show example user interfaces for a collaboration session. Aprimary device may receive a request to collaborate on content item 620from a user of the primary device or from a user of another device. Inone embodiment, a request may be made by a user of a secondary devicefrom within a native application, or from a file list or other userinterface that displays presence information about the content item. Forexample, FIG. 6A shows a user interface in which a user receives arequest to collaborate from another device. In FIG. 6A, desktop 690 ison a device being used by Beth. Carl has requested to collaborate onBeth's version 620A of a content item 620, which Beth has open in window600 of a native application executing on her device. Because Carl hasrequested to collaborate on Beth's verision 620A of content item 620,Beth's device has been designated as the primary device for thiscollaboration session, and window 600 is the primary window. FIG. 6Bshows desktop 691 of a device being used by Carl. Carl has a version620B of content item 620 open for editing in window 601 of a nativeapplication on Carl's device. Carl's device is a secondary device forthis collaboration session.

In one embodiment, when the collaboration module 207 of a primary devicereceives a collaboration request from another device, the user of theprimary device may choose to accept or reject the request. Requestelement 630 is an example user interface element for a user to instructthe device to accept or reject a request. Likewise, if a primary devicereceives instruction from a user of the primary device for the device torequest collaboration, collaboration module 207 of the primary devicesends a request to collaboration modules 207 of secondary devices tobegin collaboration. The users of the secondary devices choose whetherto accept or reject the request, and instruct the devices to accept orreject a request via request element 630 or a similar user interfaceelement.

For a primary device, if a request is accepted, or if acceptance is notrequired, collaboration module 207 identifies the primary window anddetermines the region of display 220 of the device that is occupied bythe primary window. Collaboration module 207 captures the determinedregion. Collaboration module 207 shares the captured region with one ormore secondary devices. Capturing and sharing the determined region maybe accomplished by any of several desktop sharing techniques known inthe art (e.g., Virtual Network Computing (VNC), APPLE Remote Desktop(ARD), MICROSOFT RDP, CITRIX ICA, TERADICI PCoIP).

In some instances, it may be desirable to capture and share less thanthe entire region occupied by the primary window. For example, the userof the primary device may not want the secondary device users to seewindow controls, comment areas, or other portions of the primary window.In such a case, collaboration module 207 determines the parts of theregion to omit from capture and sharing. In one embodiment, windowcontrols provided by the operating system are omitted from the sharedregion. In another embodiment, the user is allowed to choose, via a userinterface, whether to share or omit window controls, comment areas, orother portions of the primary window.

FIG. 7 shows an example process for initiating collaboration on asecondary device. For a secondary device, if a collaboration request isaccepted, or if acceptance is not required, collaboration module 207identifies 710 the secondary window and determines the region of thedisplay 220 of the secondary device that is occupied by the secondarywindow. Additionally, interaction management module 204 determines 720whether the content items open on the primary and secondary devices haveunsaved or unsynchronized changes. If the content item versions differ,the secondary device prompts 725 the user to either save or discard thechanges to the content item. Referring again to FIG. 6B, conflictselement 631 is an example user interface element for prompting a user tosave or discard changes to a content item. In one embodiment, if theuser of a secondary device chooses to save the changes to a contentitem, the user of the primary device is also alerted by collaborationmodule 207 and presented with an option to collaborate using the versionof the changed content item or the unchanged version of the contentitem.

In one embodiment, if there is no content conflict, or if the conflicthas been resolved, collaboration module 207 receives the shared regionfrom the primary device and displays 730 the shared region in the areaof the display 220 of the secondary device that is occupied by thesecondary window. In one embodiment, the size of the secondary window isincreased or decreased to fit the dimensions of the shared region fromthe primary device as may be possible given differences in displays,e.g., screen size.

In one embodiment, a collaboration session also includes audio and/orvideo communication between collaborating devices. For example,responsive to initiation of a collaboration session, a device associatedwith the collaboration session may send audio from a microphone of thedevice to an other device and receive audio from the other device toenable audio communication between users of the devices. In oneembodiment, a device associated with the collaboration session may sendvideo from a camera of the device to an other device and receive videofrom the other device to enable video communication between users of thedevices.

FIGS. 6C and 6D show example user interfaces during a collaborationsession for primary and secondary devices, respectively. Referring toFIG. 6D, the region of Carl's display that was occupied by window 601prior to collaboration is now occupied by a shared version of window600. Collaboration status elements 632, 633 are example user interfaceelements to notify users that collaboration is occurring. On the primarydevice, collaboration status element 632 allows Beth to stopcollaboration or offer control of the input devices of her device toCarl. Similarly, collaboration status element 633 allows Carl to stopcollaboration or request control of one or more input devices of Beth'sdevice.

In one embodiment, when input device control is offered by a user of aprimary device to a user of a secondary device, the collaboration module207 of the primary device sends a message to the collaboration module207 of the secondary device offering control. The message allows theuser of the secondary device to accept or reject the offer of control.If the offer is accepted, the secondary device is given the ability tosend inputs (e.g., by a keyboard, a mouse, etc.) to the shared region ofthe primary device. In one embodiment, the primary device also retainsability to also provide input. In still another embodiment, the controlof one or more input devices is limited to a different region of thedisplay of the primary device. Control of the one or more input devicesmay also be limited further, for instance by disabling variouskeystrokes or key combinations on a keyboard. Methods for sharingcontrol of an input device as well as for limiting that control are wellknown in the art.

In one embodiment, when input device control is requested by a user of asecondary device, the collaboration module 207 of the secondary devicesends a message to the collaboration module 207 of the primary devicerequesting control. The message allows the user of the primary device toaccept or reject the request for control. If the request is accepted,the secondary device is given control of one or more user input devicesof the primary devices.

FIGS. 6E and 6F show example user interfaces during a collaborationsession with control sharing. In this example, both Carl and Beth havecontrol of Beth's keyboard and mouse, meaning Carl can control Beth'scursor and keyboard commands into Beth's device using his own keyboardand mouse. In other embodiments, control may be shared for other typesof user input devices, including drawing tablets or recording devices.Control status elements 634, 635 are example user interface elements tonotify users that a collaboration session with control is occurring. Onthe primary device, control status element 634 allows Beth to stopcollaboration or revoke control from Carl. Similarly, on the secondarydevice, control status element 635 allows Carl to stop collaboration orstop controlling Beth's mouse and keyboard.

In some embodiments, user input device control, including cursor andkeyboard command control, is limited. User input device control may belimited to a specific region of the display of the primary device or tospecific input actions associated with user input device. User inputactions include keystrokes and key combinations, click combinations aswell as other actions. For example, cursor controls may be limited to aspecific region of the display of Beth's device. As such, Carl could notmove the cursor outside of certain regions of the display of Beth'sdevice. An example region is the area occupied by the primary window,but other regions may exist that are smaller or larger than the areaoccupied by the primary window. Additionally, cursor control may belimited with respect to various controls on the display of the primarydevice, including system buttons or controls to access sensitiveinformation of the user of the primary device. As another example,Carl's control of keyboard command entry may be limited. For instance,Carl may be unable to enter certain keystrokes or keystroke combinationsinto Beth's device. Methods and systems for limiting user input devicecontrol are well known in the art, and could be accomplished by eitherprimary or secondary client application 200, by another module of device100, by content management system 110, or by some combination ofmodules.

FIGS. 8A and 8B show example processes for ending collaboration. FIG. 8Ashows an example process for ending collaboration on a primary device.The collaboration module 207 of a primary device receives 810 a requestto end collaboration. The request to end collaboration may be receivedfrom a user input to the primary device, such as via the stopcollaboration button of collaboration status element 632, or from asecondary device, such as the user of a secondary device inputs a stopcollaboration request, and the collaboration module 207 of the secondarydevice sends that request to the collaboration module 207 of the primarydevice. Responsive to receiving 810 the request to end collaboration,the action sent to the process controlling the user interface elementassociated with the content item instructs 820 the process to save theupdated content item on the device. The collaboration module 207 thensends 830 the updated content item to either content management system110 or directly to the secondary devices. If the content item is sent tocontent management system 110, the content item is sent to secondarydevices pursuant to the protocols of content management system 110. FIG.8B shows an example process for ending collaboration on a secondarydevice. The collaboration module 207 of a secondary device receives 815a request to end collaboration. The request to end collaboration may bereceived from a user input to the secondary device such as the stopcollaboration button of collaboration status element 633, or from asecondary device such as when the user of a primary device inputs a stopcollaboration request, and the collaboration module 207 of the primarydevice sends that request to the collaboration module 207 of thesecondary device. Responsive to receiving 815 the request to endcollaboration, the collaboration module 207 of the secondary devicereceives 825 the updated content item. The updated content item may bereceived directly from the primary device, or via content managementsystem 110. Responsive to receiving the updated content item, the actionsent to the process controlling the user interface element associatedwith the content item instructs 835 the process to close and re-opencontent item on the device. Upon ending collaboration, the primarywindow is no longer displayed on the secondary device. The instruction835 may occur before or after the display of the primary window on thesecondary device is terminated. In another embodiment, display of theprimary window on the secondary device is terminated, and the user isinstructed to close and re-open the content item to reflect the changes.

FIG. 9 shows components of content management system 110 of FIG. 1,according to one embodiment. In one configuration, components describedbelow with reference to content management system 110 are incorporatedinto devices 100 that share and synchronize content items withoutmanagement by content management system 110. These devices 100 maysynchronize content and share interaction information over network 120or via a direct connection as described above. In this configuration,devices 100 may incorporate functionality of synchronization module 912,conflict management module 914, interaction synchronization module 916,and other modules and data stores for incorporating functionalitydescribed below as provided by content management system 110.Accordingly, devices 100 in this configuration operate in a peer-to-peerconfiguration and may do so without content management system 110 ornetwork 120.

When using content management system 110, to facilitate the variouscontent management services, a user can create an account with contentmanagement system 110. The account information can be maintained in useraccount database 918, and is one means for performing this function.User account database 918 can store profile information for registeredusers. In some cases, the only personal information in the user profilecan be a username and/or email address. However, content managementsystem 110 can also be configured to accept additional user information,such as password recovery information, demographics information, paymentinformation, and other details. Each user is associated with anidentifier, such as a userID or a user name.

User account database 918 can also include account managementinformation, such as account type, e.g., free or paid; usage informationfor each user, e.g., file edit history; maximum storage spaceauthorized; storage space used; content storage locations; securitysettings; personal configuration settings; content sharing data; etc.Account management module 904 can be configured to update and/or obtainuser account details in user account database 918. Account managementmodule 904 can be configured to interact with any number of othermodules in content management system 110.

An account can be associated with multiple devices 100, and contentitems can be stored in association with an account. The stored contentcan also include folders of various types with different behaviors, orother content item grouping methods. For example, an account can includea public folder that is accessible to any user. The public folder can beassigned a web-accessible address. A link to the web-accessible addresscan be used to access the contents of the public folder. In anotherexample, an account can include a photo folder that is intended forphoto content items and that provides specific attributes and actionstailored for photos; an audio folder that provides the ability to playback audio file content items and perform other audio related actions;or other special purpose folders. An account can also include sharedfolders or group folders that are linked with and available to multipleuser accounts. The permissions for multiple users may be different for ashared folder. In one embodiment, the account is a namespace that may beassociated with several users, each of whom may be associated withpermissions to interact with the namespace.

The content can be stored in content storage 920, which is one means forperforming this function. Content storage 920 can be a storage device,multiple storage devices, or a server. Alternatively, content storage920 can be a cloud storage provider or network storage accessible viaone or more communications networks. In one configuration, contentmanagement system 110 stores the content items in the sameorganizational structure as they appear on the device. However, contentmanagement system 110 can store the content items in its own order,arrangement, or hierarchy.

Content storage 920 can also store metadata describing content items,content item types, and the relationship of content items to variousaccounts, folders, or groups. The metadata for a content item can bestored as part of the content item or can be stored separately. In oneconfiguration, each content item stored in content storage 920 can beassigned a system-wide unique identifier.

Content storage 920 can decrease the amount of storage space required byidentifying duplicate content items or duplicate segments of contentitems. In one embodiment, for example, a content item may be sharedamong different users by including identifiers of the users withinownership metadata of the content item (e.g., an ownership list), whilestoring only a single copy of the content item and using pointers orother mechanisms to link duplicates with the single copy. Similarly,content storage 920 stores content items using a version controlmechanism that tracks changes to content items, different versions ofcontent items (such as a diverging version tree), and a change history.The change history includes a set of changes that, when applied to theoriginal content item version, produces the changed content itemversion.

Content management system 110 automatically synchronizes content itemsfrom one or more devices, using synchronization module 912, which is onemeans for performing this function. The synchronization isplatform-agnostic. That is, the content items are synchronized acrossmultiple devices 100 of varying type, capabilities, operating systems,etc. For example, client application 200 synchronizes, viasynchronization module 912 at content management system 110, content inthe file system of device 100 with the content items in an associateduser account on system 110. Client application 200 synchronizes anychanges to content items in a designated folder and its sub-folders withthe synchronization module 912. Such changes include new, deleted,modified, copied, or moved files or folders. Synchronization module 912also provides any changes to content associated with device 100 toclient application 200. This synchronizes the local content at device100 with the content items at content management system 110.

Conflict management module 914 determines whether there are anydiscrepancies between versions of a content item located at differentdevices 100. For example, when a content item is modified at one deviceand a second device, differing versions of the content item may exist ateach device. Synchronization module 912 determines such versioningconflicts, for example by identifying the modification time of thecontent item modifications. Conflict management module 914 resolves theconflict between versions by any suitable means, such as by merging theversions, or by notifying the device of the later-submitted version.

A user can also view or manipulate content via a web interface generatedby user interface module 902. For example, the user can navigate in webbrowser 250 to a web address provided by content management system 110.Changes or updates to content in content storage 620 made through theweb interface, such as uploading a new version of a file, aresynchronized back to other devices 100 associated with the user'saccount. Multiple devices 100 may be associated with a single accountand files in the account are synchronized between each of the multipledevices 100.

Content management system 110 includes communications interface 900 forinterfacing with various devices 100, and with other content and/orservice providers via an Application Programming Interface (API), whichis one means for performing this function. Certain software applicationsaccess content storage 920 via an API on behalf of a user. For example,a software package, such as an app on a smartphone or tablet computingdevice, can programmatically make calls directly to content managementsystem 110, when a user provides credentials, to read, write, create,delete, share, or otherwise manipulate content. Similarly, the API canallow users to access all or part of content storage 920 through a website.

Content management system 110 can also include authenticator module 906,which verifies user credentials, security tokens, API calls, specificdevices, etc., to determine whether access to requested content items isauthorized, and is one means for performing this function. Authenticatormodule 906 can generate one-time use authentication tokens for a useraccount. Authenticator module 906 assigns an expiration period or dateto each authentication token. In addition to sending the authenticationtokens to requesting devices, authenticator module 906 can storegenerated authentication tokens in authentication token database 922.Upon receiving a request to validate an authentication token,authenticator module 906 checks authentication token database 922 for amatching authentication token assigned to the user. Once theauthenticator module 906 identifies a matching authentication token,authenticator module 906 determines if the matching authentication tokenis still valid. For example, authenticator module 906 verifies that theauthentication token has not expired or was not marked as used orinvalid. After validating an authentication token, authenticator module906 may invalidate the matching authentication token, such as asingle-use token. For example, authenticator module 906 can mark thematching authentication token as used or invalid, or delete the matchingauthentication token from authentication token database 922.

Content management system 110 includes a sharing module 910 for sharingcontent publicly or privately. Sharing content publicly can includemaking the content item accessible from any computing device in networkcommunication with content management system 110. Sharing contentprivately can include linking a content item in content storage 920 withtwo or more user accounts so that each user account has access to thecontent item. The content can also be shared across varying types ofuser accounts.

In some embodiments, content management system 110 includes a contentmanagement module 908 for maintaining a content directory thatidentifies the location of each content item in content storage 920, andallows client applications to request access to content items in thestorage 920, and which is one means for performing this function. Acontent entry in the content directory can also include a contentpointer that identifies the location of the content item in contentstorage 920. For example, the content entry can include a contentpointer designating the storage address of the content item in memory.In some embodiments, the content entry includes multiple contentpointers that point to multiple locations, each of which contains aportion of the content item.

In addition to a content path and content pointer, a content entry insome configurations also includes a user account identifier thatidentifies the user account that has access to the content item. In someembodiments, multiple user account identifiers can be associated with asingle content entry indicating that the content item has shared accessby the multiple user accounts.

To share a content item privately, sharing module 910 adds a useraccount identifier to the content entry associated with the contentitem, thus granting the added user account access to the content item.Sharing module 910 can also be configured to remove user accountidentifiers from a content entry to restrict a user account's access tothe content item.

To share content publicly, sharing module 910 generates a custom networkaddress, such as a URL, which allows any web browser to access thecontent in content management system 110 without any authentication. Thesharing module 910 includes content identification data in the generatedURL, which can later be used by content management system 110 toproperly identify and return the requested content item. For example,sharing module 910 can be configured to include the user accountidentifier and the content path in the generated URL. The contentidentification data included in the URL can be transmitted to contentmanagement system 110 by a device to access the content item. Inaddition to generating the URL, sharing module 910 can also beconfigured to record that a URL to the content item has been created. Insome embodiments, the content entry associated with a content item caninclude a URL flag indicating whether a URL to the content item has beencreated.

Content management system 110 may be implemented using a singlecomputer, or a network of computers, including cloud-based computerimplementations. For the purposes of this disclosure, a computer isdevice having one or more processors, memory, storage devices, andnetworking resources. The computers are preferably server classcomputers including one or more high-performance CPUs and 1 G or more ofmain memory, as well as 500 Gb to 2 Tb of computer readable, persistentstorage, and running an operating system such as LINUX or variantsthereof. The operations of content management system 110 as describedherein can be controlled through either hardware or through computerprograms installed in computer storage and executed by the processors ofsuch server to perform the functions described herein. These systemsinclude other hardware elements necessary for the operations describedhere, including network interfaces and protocols, input devices for dataentry, and output devices for display, printing, or other presentationsof data, but which are not described herein. Similarly, conventionalelements, such as firewalls, load balancers, failover servers, networkmanagement tools and so forth are not shown so as not to obscure thefeatures of the system. Finally, the functions and operations of contentmanagement system 110 are sufficiently complex as to requireimplementation on a computer system, and cannot be performed in thehuman mind simply by mental steps.

Interaction synchronization module 916 manages synchronization ofinteraction information across devices 100. Devices 100 provideinteraction information to interaction synchronization module 916.Interaction synchronization module 916 responds to interactioninformation based on the type of interaction information received. Asinteraction synchronization module 916 uses presence information todetermine a response for certain types of interaction information,treatment of received presence information is described first, withtreatment of additional types of interaction information describedfurther below.

Interaction synchronization module 916 receives presence informationfrom a device, stores it as part of a presence record in presence datastore 924 and determines a user presence with respect to a content item.Each user may be associated with a user presence describing presencerecords associated with that user with respect to a content item, whichmay be without reference to any particular user device, process, or userinterface element. While presence information may describe presence withrespect to a particular user interface element or process, this presenceassociated with a user is termed a user presence. Example user presenceincludes collaborating (primary), collaborating (secondary), editing,viewing, open, and not present. In this example, a “collaborating(primary)” user presence indicates the content item is associated with auser interface element that is sharing the content item, a“collaborating (secondary)” user presence indicates the content item isassociated with a user interface element that is displaying a sharedcontent item, an “editing” user presence indicates the content item isassociated with a user interface element that has modified the contentitem, a “viewing” user presence indicates the content item is associatedwith an active user interface element on a device 100, while an “open”user presence indicates a user interface element is associated with thecontent item and has opened the content item, but has not yet closed thecontent item. Various embodiments may use more or fewer user presences.For example, one embodiment includes only “editing” “viewing” and “notpresent,” in which case user interface elements that have opened thecontent item but are not the active user interface element may betreated as viewing or not presence, according to the configuration ofthe system.

In one embodiment, content management system 110 includes collaborationmodule 926. Collaboration module 926 can be configured to facilitatecollaboration between devices 100. For instance, collaboration module926 may initiate a device handshake by sharing a device's address withanother device so that collaboration may occur. Further, collaborationmodule 926 may be configured to perform any of the tasks that areperformed by collaboration module 207 of a device 100 or by any othermodule of client application 200.

FIG. 10 shows an ordering of user presence according to one embodiment.The ordering as shown in FIG. 10 describes the priority of interactionwith a content item associated with each user presence. In this example,a user has a higher priority of interaction with a content item when theuser is collaborating in a content item relative to editing a contentitem, a higher priority of interaction when editing a content itemrelative to viewing the content item, and likewise viewing a contentitem in an active user interface element is a higher priority ofinteraction than a user interface element that has the content itemopen.

Since a user may open a content item across several devices and acrossseveral processes and user interface elements, the ordering is used todetermine the highest priority of user interaction of that user. Thispermits the user presence to reflect the highest priority of userpresence associated with the various possible devices and user interfaceelements associated with a user. This user presence is sent to devices100 for display as shown in FIGS. 5A-5D, and permits a single userpresence indicating the highest priority of user interaction to beshown.

FIG. 11 shows a presence record in presence table 1100 relating to acontent item. Presence table 1100 may be stored, for example, inpresence data store 924. Presence information received by interactionsynchronization module 916 is converted into a presence record forstorage in presence data store 924. When presence records are stored inpresence data store 924, the presence records may be stored in key-valuestorage, for example, using an identifier of the content item as a key.Presence table 1100 may be stored by presence data store 924, or mayconceptually represent information retrieved by interactionsynchronization module 916 from presence data store 924.

In this example, a presence record identifies a content item, a deviceid, a user id (for convenience represented here as a name), a userinterface element id, a process id, and presence information. Eachunique device id, user interface element id, and process id combinationis associated with presence information. In this example, devices whichare “not present” are not represented in presence table 1100. As shownby presence table 1100, individual users (Jim) and devices (e.g., deviceid 36abe87) may be associated with multiple presence records. Thepresence table in this embodiment describes information relating toindividual processes and user interface elements operated by varioususers and devices as provided by interaction management module 204.

When presence information is received by interaction synchronizationmodule 916, interaction synchronization module 916 accesses presencedata store 924 to identify whether an existing presence record matchesthe device id, process id, and user interface element id of the receivedpresence information. When no record matches this information, a newpresence record is generated. The “user ID” of the new presence recordmay be included in the received information, or interactionsynchronization module 916 may query another module or data store toidentify the user associated with the device ID. The new presence recordis stored in presence data store 924. When a matching presence record isidentified in presence data store 924, the existing presence record isupdated based on the received information. When the received informationindicates the content item is no longer associated with the userinterface element (e.g., because the relevant window has closed), thepresence record may be removed from presence data store 924.

In this example, interaction synchronization module 916 also stores apresence record in presence table 1100 reflecting a user's request to benotified when a particular presence event occurs. In variousembodiments, a user's notification request may be stored in any suitableway. The notification request is received by interaction synchronizationmodule 916 as interaction information input via notification element 520and sent to interaction synchronization module 916 by the devicereceiving the notification request. The notification request may bestored with sufficient information describing the notification request,such as the requesting device and the user requesting the notification.The user may be used to identify and notify alternate devices if theuser is no longer using the device that provided the request.

Interaction synchronization module 916 may generate user presence table1110 to maintain the current user presence relating to a content item.In other embodiments, the current user presence is stored without usinguser presence table 1110. User presence table 1110 indicates thepresence of a user reflecting the presence records associated with theuser devices of the user. The user presence is used by devices 100, forexample, to display in presence indicators 500. In this way, even thougha user may interact with a content item using several devices,processes, and user interface elements, only the presence reflecting thehighest priority of interaction is distributed to other devices 100.

To determine the user presence, the presence information from eachpresence record associated with a user is identified. Then the presenceinformation is matched against the user presence ordering to determinethe highest priority ordering. With user John as an example, John isassociated with three user presences. The presence records indicate thatJohn is viewing the content item in a focused window of one user device(i.e., Device 9d7523c in user interface element id 1), and in two userinterface elements of device 36abe87, the content item is being editedin the first and “open” in the second. Applying the ordering shown inFIG. 10, “editing” is the highest order presence associated with John.John's user presence is set to “editing” in user presence table 1110.

When a presence record is modified, the user presence is updated toreflect any changes in the user presence. For example, if John's“viewing” presence record is removed, John's user presence is notchanged because an “editing” presence record remains. Likewise, ifJohn's “editing” presence record changes to “open,” John's presencestatus changes to “viewing” as the next-highest priority presencereflected in presence records associated with John. Note that the“viewing” presence record is associated with another device ID(9d7523c). Thus, John's presence is accurately reflected across severaldevices, processes, and user interface elements.

FIG. 12 shows a process of modifying a presence record and updatingdevices 100 of user presence according to an embodiment. This processmay be performed in one embodiment by interaction synchronization module916. Presence information is received 1200 by interactionsynchronization module 916. Interaction synchronization module 916updates 1210 presence records in presence table 1100 by modifyingexisting presence records or adding a new presence record, as describedabove. Interaction synchronization module 916 next determines 1220 theuser presence of the user associated with the updated presence recordand determines whether the user presence is changed by the updatedpresence record. For example, a change in user presence may bedetermined by determining a new user presence and comparing the new userpresence to the user presence stored in user presence table 1110. If theuser presence was not changed, in one embodiment, the process ends. Ifthe user presence changes, the user presence is updated 1230 in userpresence table 1110.

In one embodiment, interaction synchronization module 916 determineswhether a user interface element of a device has provided presenceinformation within a threshold amount of time. When a user interfaceelement has not provided presence information, interactionsynchronization module 916 may request presence information from thedevice or consider the presence for the related user interface elementto have ended (“not present”). Thus, interaction synchronization module916 may “expect” a heartbeat relating to each user interface elementthat has provided recent presence information. When no presenceinformation is received within the threshold amount of time, a “notpresent” presence may be generated for that user interface element.

Next, interaction synchronization module 916 identifies devices toupdate regarding the changed user presence. In one embodiment, anydevice synchronized with the content item is updated. In anotherembodiment, the presence table 1110 is consulted to determine deviceswith a presence associated with the content item. In addition,interaction synchronization module 916 determines whether anynotifications are triggered by the change in user presence. Storednotifications are accessed and the conditions for the notification arecompared to the changed presence related to the content item. Usingidentified devices, interaction synchronization module 916 sends 1250the updated presence information to the identified devices. In oneconfiguration, the user presence is provided to the identified devices.In another configuration, additional information may also be provided.In this way, user presence information is managed by content managementsystem 110 to distribute presence information only when it affects theuser presence that may actually displayed to a user, e.g., in a presenceindicator or responsive to a notification request.

Additional interaction information provided by devices 100 is alsoprocessed by interaction synchronization module 916. Such interactioninformation includes a request to be notified when presence of a userchanges, a request for version or metadata information, chat messages,and so forth as described with respect to FIG. 5B. As described above,notification requests may be stored and used to determine devices tonotify when presence status changes. When version or metadata isrequested, interaction synchronization module 916 retrieves such versionand metadata information from content storage 920. Interactionsynchronization module 916 may provide the version information andchanges relative to various content item versions as described withrespect to content storage 920. When a chat message is received for acontent item, interaction synchronization module 916 queries presencedata store 924 to identify device IDs associated with stored presencerecords for the content item and distributes the chat message to theseidentified devices.

When changes to a content item are made by a device, presence recordsmay be used to intelligently and smoothly update individual userinterface elements interacting with the content item. Such changes to acontent item include moving the content item (e.g., to another folder ordirectory), deleting the content item, and committing a new version ofthe content item.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart for a process that uses presence informationto synchronize modifications to a content item. This process may beperformed by interaction synchronization module 916 or by clientapplication 200, according to various embodiments. When a change to acontent item is received 1300, presence records for the affected contentitem are accessed 1310 to determine 1320 the presence informationassociated with each user interface element. Depending on the presenceof the user interface element and the change to the content item, anaction is sent to the client application for the user interface elementto perform to reconcile the user interface element with the change tothe content item.

When a user interface element is associated with an “open” presence(i.e., the user interface element has interacted with the content item,but is not the active user interface element in the display), the actionsent to the process controlling the user interface element typicallyinstructs 1330 the process to seamlessly integrate the content itemchange. For example, when a new version of the content item iscommitted, the process is instructed to close and automatically re-openthe new, changed content item. When the content item is moved, theprocess may be instructed to close the content item and re-open thecontent item at the new location. When the content item is deleted, theprocess may be instructed to close the content item. When the presencerecord indicates the user interface element is viewing (e.g., presentlythe active user interface element on the device), a user may be notified1340 prior to performing the action described for the “open” presenceinformation. In addition, the user may be notified 1340 of the specificchange to the content item and prompted to perform further actions.While a user may not mind if a content item is moved to another folder,a user may prefer an option to save the current version of a contentitem prior to synchronizing a deletion or modification of the contentitem. The action in this circumstance may include prompting the user,e.g., via a supplemental user interface, whether to continue withsynchronizing the modification, to save the current content item, or tocontinue viewing the current content item without change.

When the presence record indicates the user interface element isassociated with editing the content item (e.g., the user interfaceelement is associated with an unsaved modification of the content item),the action may prompt 1350 the user to preserve the content item,including any edits the user has made or to preserve the uneditedversion of the content item. For example, when the change deletes thecontent item, the action includes presenting an option to save themodified content item. When the change moves the content item, theaction may assist in synchronizing the edited content item with the newlocation of the content item. For example, the action may instruct theclient application 200 to save any modifications of the content item.

When the change commits a new version of the content item and the userinterface element is associated with modifying the content item (e.g.,an editing presence), the action may notify the user of the new versionand prompt the user to save the user's changes to another document (toavoid a versioning conflict with the existing content item) or todiscard the user's changes. The action may also attempt to merge thenewly committed version with the modifications made in the userinterface element. Such merging may include identifying the committedchanges to the content item and instructing the user device to attemptto incorporate the committed changes to the content item in the userinterface element.

When a presence record indicates the user interface element isassociated with collaborating, collaboration module 207 or collaborationmodule 926 determines 1360 whether the change to the content item wasmade by the primary collaborating device. If the content item change wasnot made by the primary device, the user of the primary device isprompted 1350 to save or discard edits. In one embodiment, the option tosave may additionally give an option to override the content item changeto preserve the version of the content item being used in thecollaboration.

If the content item change was made by the primary device, the actionsent to the process controlling the user interface element typicallyinstructs 1370 the process to seamlessly integrate the content itemchange. For example, when a new version of the content item iscommitted, the process is instructed to close and automatically re-openthe new, changed content item.

FIG. 14 shows a folder-level display of interaction informationaccording to one embodiment. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 14, userinterface module 202 on device 100 displays a browser 1400 to the userfor navigating synchronized content items. The synchronized contentitems may be associated with individual folders or shared folders asdescribed above. Browser 1400 displays content items synchronized withcontent management system 110 and permits the user to navigatesynchronized content items and organizations of such content items. Inthe example shown in FIG. 14, browser 1400 shows a collection of contentitems for a shared folder. This view of a collection (e.g., a folder) isalso termed a specific “organization” of content items displayed bybrowser 1400. The organization of a shared folder may be hierarchical,and may include, for example, several organizational elements within thecollection. Each organizational element is a content item that furtherorganizes content items within the organization. For example, one typeof organizational element is a folder, which may include one or morefolders within the folder. Other organizational elements may be used,such as a collection, a set, a playlist, or any other suitable groupingfor organizing and managing content items. A user may hierarchicallynavigate an organization of content items by selecting organizationalelements and navigating the organizational structure. Browser 1400displays interaction information relating to the content items viewed inthe browser 1400. In this way, as a user navigates shared andsynchronized folders, the user may also view interactions with contentitems. As described further below, this permits a user to identifycurrent and recent interactions with shared folders and content items.

In one embodiment, as interaction information is received by a client,the client associates the received interaction information with a sharedfolder and any related organizations and organizational elements. Forexample, a content item may be associated with folder A within aparticular shared folder. The interaction information may be associatedwith the content item, the shared folder, and folder A. As shown in FIG.14, browser 1400 may display several content items includingorganizational elements. In this example, browser 1400 shows severalfolder organizational elements, as well as content items “Project TaskList” and “Q1 Revenue Report.”

The interaction information and other information about synchronizedcontent items is analyzed to generate a status indicator (specificallyone of status indicators 1410A-F, and generally status indicator 1410)for each content item, including organizational elements. The statusindicator provides visual information to display interaction informationor synchronization status for a content item or organizational element.In this example, status indicator 1410 may indicate that the associateditem (content item or organizational element) is up to date, iscurrently receiving updates or modifications, or is associated withpresence information. Status indicators associated with anorganizational element may be determined by identifying content itemsand further organizational elements contained by the organizationalelement, and displaying the status of the items contained by theorganizational element.

In this example, status indicator 1410A indicates that the folder “TaxForms” is currently synchronized with content management system 110. Thefolder “Tax forms” is an organizational element that is not shared withother users.

Status indicator 1410B indicates that the folder “Music” is currentlyreceiving modifications and synchronizing the status of the contentitems within this organizational element with content management system110.

Status indicator 1410C indicates that the folder “Shared House Expenses”is currently synchronized with content management system 110. Thisfolder is shared with and synchronized by other users, as indicated bythe designation “shared folder.”

Status indicator 1410D indicates that the folder “Quarterly RevenueReports” is currently associated with presence information relating toeight other users, as indicated by “+8”. In this embodiment, the numberof users with presence information relating to an organizational elementor content item is designated by a counter. The presence informationrelating to “Quarterly Revenue Reports” is associated with content itemsand other organizational items organized by this organizational item.For example, six users may be associated with presence informationrelating to content items in “quarterly revenue reports,” while twousers may be associated with a further organizational element within“quarterly revenue reports.” That is, a further folder may exist within“quarterly revenue reports” within which the two users may beinteracting with content items. Since the user is viewing “quarterlyrevenue reports,” as an organizational element (and not as theorganization displayed by the browser), the browser displays informationconsolidated interaction information associated with the content itemswithin “quarterly revenue reports.” The user may select theorganizational element to browse to the organizational element itselfand further identify the content items being viewed or otherwiseinteracted with (e.g., edited) by other users.

Similarly, status indicator 1410E indicates that the folder “EfficiencyImprovement Project” is currently associated with presence informationrelating to two other users as indicated by “+2”.

Status indicator 1410F indicates that the content item “Project tasklist” is associated with presence information for a user whose icon isdisplayed. In various methods of displaying such information, the user'sicon may be displayed, or the status indicator may show a+1 or othernon-personalized indicator. In this way, in the browser 1400, a user mayview interaction information relating to various content items andorganizational elements associated with the view of the browser,permitting a user to see at-a-glance what items or organizationalelements are being interacted with by other users.

In addition to status indicators 1410, browser 1400 may also display alist of active users 1420 associated with the various status indicators1410. The user may interact with the list of active users 1420 inconjunction with filter icon 1450 to select individual users to view.For example, a user sees that user “John” in active users list 1420 isactive and associated with presence information. The user may selectfilter 1450 to select “John” and the browser, managed by user interfacemodule 202, filters the displayed interaction information to theinformation that relates only to “John.”

In addition, a user may select a user in active users list 1420 (orotherwise) to identify specific content items that the user isinteracting with. Specifically, the presence information associated withthat user is identified and the resulting content items are displayed.This may permit a user to quickly identify which content item anotheruser is active with, even if that user is active in a content item in asub-sub-sub-folder or other organization element deep in anorganizational hierarchy. Thus, the viewing user may quickly “find”where another user is active within the organization of content items.

The browser 1400 also displays an activity feed 1430 related to the viewdisplayed to the user and the various content items and organizationalelements associated with the organization currently displayed. Theactivity feed may display any interaction information as described withrespect to a user's view of a content item discussed with respect toFIGS. 5A-5D. For example, activity feed 1430A displays when a user'spresence changes (e.g., opening or closing a content item). Activityfeed item 1430B indicates that a user has saved a new version of a file,and prompts a user to select a response, as previously discussed withrespect to FIG. 13. In the browser 1400, modifications to a content itemmay not be displayed in activity feed 1430 until the modifications havebeen successfully synchronized to local content data store 208.

As shown by activity feed item 1430C, chat messages relating to aspecific organization item (e.g., the folder “Efficiency ImprovementProject”) or relating to a specific content item (e.g., content item“Project Goals.txt”) are displayed in the activity feed 1430. Similarly,changes in presence activities of a user with respect to a content itemwithin an organizational item may also be displayed, as shown byactivity feed items 1430D and 1430E.

Finally, the activity feed 1430 may also notify the user of variouschanges to metadata relating to a shared folder, content item, ororganizational item. For example, modifications, deletions, or additionsto a content item, or the addition 1430F of a new users to a sharedfolder. Users may also enter chat messages or other interactioninformation in a chat element 1440. This message is associated with theorganizational view of the user, in this example with the “My Workspace”shared folder. This allows users to communicate about a content item ora folder or shared folder from the browser 1400 itself.

In this way, browser 1400 displays detailed presence and interactioninformation relating to various content items and organizationalelements without requiring the user to enter a native application of acontent item, and allows the user to view changes and data about acontent item at a glance.

Accordingly, the presence associated with each user interface element isthus used to smooth the user experience when a content item is modified.Thus, a user may be notified of content item notifications prior to theuser closing user interface elements, and reduces the likelihood that auser will be surprised if a content item changes or is deleted by asynchronization shortly after the user closes it.

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has beenpresented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed.Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the abovedisclosure.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of theinvention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations ofoperations on information. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are commonly used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively toothers skilled in the art. These operations, while describedfunctionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits,microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient attimes, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, withoutloss of generality. The described operations and their associatedmodules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or anycombinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allof the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus forperforming the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfiguredby a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer programmay be stored in a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storagemedium, or any type of media suitable for storing electronicinstructions, which may be coupled to a computer system bus.Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification mayinclude a single processor or may be architectures employing multipleprocessor designs for increased computing capability.

Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a product that isproduced by a computing process described herein. Such a product maycomprise information resulting from a computing process, where theinformation is stored on a non-transitory, tangible computer readablestorage medium and may include any embodiment of a computer programproduct or other data combination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited notby this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsof the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, ofthe scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstoring instructions that, when executed by a computing system, causethe computing system to perform operations comprising: responsive todetecting, by a secondary device, a presence of a user of a primarydevice accessing a collaborative content item synchronized by a contentmanagement system with the secondary device and the primary device,generating for display using the secondary device a selectablecollaboration option that, when selected, triggers a sending of acollaboration request to the primary device to collaborate on editingthe collaborative content item with a user of the secondary device, theselectable collaboration option having not been displayed using thesecondary device for an interval of time preceding the detecting of thepresence of the user of the primary device based on the user of theprimary device not having interacted with the collaborative content itemduring the interval of time; responsive to receiving user inputcomprising a selection of the selectable collaboration option,outputting a prompt comprising a plurality of selectable options eachcorresponding to a different version of the collaborative content itemto be used during collaboration, wherein the plurality of selectableoptions includes an option corresponding to a changed version of thecollaborative content item and an option corresponding to an unchangedversion of the collaborative content item; responsive to receiving aselection of a selectable option of the plurality of selectable options,sending a collaboration request to the primary device, the collaborationrequest corresponding to a collaboration on the changed version of thecollaborative content item or the unchanged version of the collaborativecontent item based on the selection of the option corresponding to thechanged version or the option corresponding to the unchanged version,respectively; and displaying, by the secondary device within a userinterface window of the secondary device, an interface portion that atleast in part reflects a user interface window of the primary device andincludes an instance of the collaborative content item on the primarydevice, the collaborative content item on the primary device reflectingthe version corresponding to the selected option.
 2. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the interfaceportion is displayed in response to receiving an acceptance of thecollaboration request from the primary device.
 3. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 1, wherein the interface portion is configuredto display one or more interactions by a user of the primary device withthe content item.
 4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1,the operations further comprising: receiving, at the secondary devicefrom the primary device, an offer to allow the secondary device toprovide input to the primary device.
 5. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 4, the operations further comprising: receiving, at thesecondary device, a user input to accept the offer to allow thesecondary device to provide input to the primary device; and sending,from the secondary device to the primary device, an input specifying aninteraction with the content item, the input received from a user of thesecondary device, wherein the primary device updates the instance of thecontent item on the primary device according to the input.
 6. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the content item,in response to being updated on the primary device, is synchronized withthe content management system and the secondary device.
 7. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein a collaborationelement identifies one or more of the primary device, a user of theprimary device, and a user account associated with the primary device.8. A method comprising: responsive to detecting, by a secondary device,a presence of a user of a primary device accessing a collaborativecontent item synchronized by a content management system with thesecondary device and the primary device, generating for display usingthe secondary device a selectable collaboration option that, whenselected, triggers a sending of a collaboration request to the primarydevice to collaborate on editing the collaborative content item with auser of the secondary device, the selectable collaboration option havingnot been displayed using the secondary device for an interval of timepreceding the detecting of the presence of the user of the primarydevice based on the user of the primary device not having interactedwith the collaborative content item during the interval of time;responsive to receiving user input comprising a selection of theselectable collaboration option, outputting a prompt comprising aplurality of selectable options each corresponding to a differentversion of the collaborative content item to be used duringcollaboration, wherein the plurality of selectable options includes anoption corresponding to a changed version of the collaborative contentitem and an option corresponding to an unchanged version of thecollaborative content item; responsive to receiving a selection of aselectable option of the plurality of selectable options, sending acollaboration request to the primary device, the collaboration requestcorresponding to a collaboration on the changed version of thecollaborative content item or the unchanged version of the collaborativecontent item based on the selection of the option corresponding to thechanged version of the option corresponding to the unchanged version,respectively; and displaying, by the secondary device within a userinterface window of the secondary device, an interface portion that atleast in part reflects a user interface window of the primary device andincludes an instance of the collaborative content item on the primarydevice, the collaborative content item on the primary device reflectingthe version corresponding to the selected option.
 9. The method of claim8, wherein the interface portion is displayed in response to receivingan acceptance of the collaboration request from the primary device. 10.The method of claim 8, wherein the interface portion is configured todisplay one or more interactions by a user of the primary device withthe content item.
 11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:receiving, at the secondary device from the primary device, an offer toallow the secondary device to provide input to the primary device. 12.The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving, at the secondarydevice, a user input to accept the offer to allow the secondary deviceto provide input to the primary device; and sending, from the secondarydevice to the primary device, an input specifying an interaction withthe content item, the input received from a user of the secondarydevice, wherein the primary device updates the instance of the contentitem on the primary device according to the input.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the content item, in response to being updated on theprimary device, is synchronized with the content management system andthe secondary device.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein a collaborationelement identifies one or more of the primary device, a user of theprimary device, and a user account associated with the primary device.15. A system comprising: at least one hardware processor; and anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executablecomputer instructions that, when executed by the at least one hardwareprocessor, are configured to cause the at least one hardware processorto perform steps comprising: responsive to detecting, by a secondarydevice, a presence of a user of a primary device accessing acollaborative content item synchronized by a content management systemwith the secondary device and the primary device, generating for displayusing the secondary device a selectable collaboration option that, whenselected, triggers a sending of a collaboration request to the primarydevice to collaborate on editing the collaborative content item with auser of the secondary device, the selectable collaboration option havingnot been displayed using the secondary device for an interval of timepreceding the detecting of the presence of the user of the primarydevice based on the user of the primary device not having interactedwith the collaborative content item during the interval of time;responsive to receiving user input comprising a selection of theselectable collaboration option, outputting a prompt comprising aplurality of selectable options each corresponding to a differentversion of for the collaborative content item to be used duringcollaboration, wherein the plurality of selectable options includes anoption corresponding to a changed version of the collaborative contentitem and an option corresponding to an unchanged version of thecollaborative content item; responsive to receiving a selection of aselectable option of the plurality of selectable options, sending acollaboration request to the primary device, the collaboration requestcorresponding to a collaboration on the changed version of thecollaborative content item or the unchanged version of the collaborativecontent item based on the selection of the option corresponding to thechanged version or the option corresponding to the unchanged version,respectively; and displaying, by the secondary device within the userinterface window of the secondary device, an interface portion that atleast in part reflects a user interface window of the primary device andincludes an instance of the collaborative content item on the primarydevice, the collaborative content item on the primary device reflectingthe version corresponding to the selected option.
 16. The system ofclaim 15, wherein the interface portion is displayed in response toreceiving an acceptance of the collaboration request from the primarydevice.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein the interface portion isconfigured to display one or more interactions by a user of the primarydevice with the content item.
 18. The system of claim 15, the stepsfurther comprising: receiving, at the secondary device from the primarydevice, an offer to allow the secondary device to provide input to theprimary device.
 19. The system of claim 18, the steps furthercomprising: receiving, at the secondary device, a user input to acceptthe offer to allow the secondary device to provide input to the primarydevice; and sending, from the secondary device to the primary device, aninput specifying an interaction with the content item, the inputreceived from a user of the secondary device, wherein the primary deviceupdates the instance of the content item on the primary device accordingto the input.
 20. The system of claim 15, wherein a collaborationelement identifies one or more of the primary device, a user of theprimary device, and a user account associated with the primary device.